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The conclusion one comes to is that the person who Christ spoke of, if not the father of John the Baptist, must be a person not otherwise mentioned in the Scriptures. The names Zechariah, Zachariah and Zacharias are common in Scripture being borne by some 28 persons. It may be also that there were quite a number of persons with that name who were sons of a Berechiah. This may be the reason why the prophet Zechariah is not only said to be the son of Berechiah, but also the son of Iddo, that is, his grandfather's name is given as well, so that there might be no mistake as to his identity. |
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Further, it may be noticed that it was apparently not uncommon around the time of Christ to give persons the name of an Old Testament personage, their children then being given the names of that personage's sons. Thus we have in the Old Testament, Joseph the son of Jacob (Genesis 37:2). Similarly Joseph the husband of Mary was the son of a Jacob (Matthew 1:16). If we look at Luke's genealogy of Christ we find in it two persons named Matthat who were sons of a Levi, one near the time of Christ and one much earlier in the genealogy (Luke 3). This would all suggest that there could well be a number of persons named Zacharias, having a father named Barachias that we know nothing of. |
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It will be noted that Christ goes from Abel (Genesis 4) to Zacharias. He was covering human history to date, so it is highly unlikely that the Zacharias of whom he spoke would have lived over half a millennium before his own time. Further, the persons to whom our Lord spoke would not have been above killing anyone who rebuked them. After all, there was, after Christ's own death, the case of Stephen who was stoned (Acts 7). |
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Written April 2000 |
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